Submissions

Author Guidelines

How to Submit

All manuscripts must be submitted through our Smart Submission portal. Please do not email manuscripts directly to the editorial office.

Submit Your Manuscript →

If you have already submitted, you can track your manuscript here.

Manuscript Preparation

Westminster Academic Press operates a rigorous double-blind peer review process. All submitted manuscripts must be fully anonymised before submission: remove author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, funding statements, and any other identifying information from the manuscript file. Place such details on a separate title page uploaded as a supplementary file.

Article Types and Word Limits

The journal accepts three article types:

  • Original Research — up to 12,000 words (excluding abstract, references, tables, and figure captions). Authors are encouraged to present findings as concisely as possible; well-argued shorter papers are equally welcome.
  • Review Article — up to 10,000 words (excluding abstract, references, tables, and figure captions)
  • Rapid Communication — up to 3,000 words, reporting significant preliminary findings or time-sensitive results

Manuscript Structure

Original Research articles should follow the structure: Abstract (max 300 words), Keywords (4–8 terms), Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, and References. Review articles and Rapid Communications may use an appropriate structure for the content.

Language

Manuscripts must be written in English to a professional standard. Authors for whom English is not a first language are strongly encouraged to seek language editing before submission.

References

Use APA 7th edition reference style throughout. All citations in the text must appear in the reference list and vice versa. DOIs should be included where available.

Figures and Tables

Figures must be supplied at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and in a standard format (TIFF, EPS, or high-resolution PDF). Tables should be editable (not images). Each figure and table must be cited in the text and include a descriptive caption.

Ethics and Data

Research involving human participants, human data, or animals must include a statement of ethical approval from an appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee. Authors are encouraged to make underlying datasets publicly available and to include a data availability statement.

Submission & APC Fee

A combined submission and article processing charge of £2,495 is payable upon submission. This fee covers submission handling, editorial assessment, peer review, and, if accepted, publication. Submissions rejected following peer review are eligible for a 40% refund. No refund is payable on withdrawal. Fee waiver applications may be submitted through the waiver process at the time of submission.

Prior Publication

Submissions must be original and must not have been published previously, nor be under consideration by any other journal. Deposit of preprints in recognised preprint servers (such as arXiv, bioRxiv, or SSRN) is permitted. Authors must confirm that all co-authors consent to the submission.

Submissions We Will Not Consider

The following types of submission will be desk-rejected without review:

  • Manuscripts that are not written in English or are below a professional standard of written communication
  • Submissions that are not anonymised (author names or affiliations visible in the manuscript body)
  • Manuscripts that substantially exceed the word limit for the selected article type
  • Work that has been previously published or is under active consideration by another journal
  • Submissions containing plagiarised, fabricated, or falsified content
  • Manuscripts that lack a clear research question, hypothesis, or scholarly contribution
  • Promotional, commercial, or advertorial material disguised as research
  • Spam, hoaxes, prank submissions, manifestos, or incoherent text
  • Content that is defamatory, unlawful, incites violence or hatred, or violates applicable laws
  • Material containing unredacted personal data, confidential information, or export-controlled content without appropriate clearance
  • Submissions that do not fall within the aims and scope of the journal

If you are unsure whether your manuscript is suitable, please contact the editorial office before submitting.

Submission Preparation Checklist

Before submitting, confirm that your manuscript satisfies all of the following requirements. Submissions that do not meet these requirements may be returned without review.

  • The manuscript is written in English to a professional standard.
  • The main manuscript file is fully anonymised: author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, and funding information have been removed and placed on a separate title page.
  • The abstract is structured (for Original Research) and does not exceed 300 words.
  • Between 4 and 8 keywords are provided.
  • The word count is within the limit for the selected article type (Original Research ≤12,000; Review Article ≤10,000; Rapid Communication ≤3,000 words).
  • All references follow APA 7th edition style; DOIs are included where available.
  • All figures are supplied at ≥300 dpi and are numbered and captioned.
  • All tables are editable and numbered and captioned.
  • An ethical approval statement is included where the research involves human participants, human data, or animals.
  • A conflict of interest statement is included (or a statement that none exists).
  • A data availability statement is included where applicable.
  • Author contribution statements (CRediT taxonomy) are included, if applicable, on the title page.
  • The submission has not been previously published and is not currently under consideration by another journal.
  • All co-authors have reviewed and approved the submission.
  • The manuscript does not contain plagiarised, fabricated, or falsified content.
  • The manuscript does not contain unredacted personal data, confidential information, or material the authors are not authorised to disclose.

Privacy Statement

Privacy Statement

Westminster Academic Press (“we”, “the Publisher”) is committed to protecting the personal data of authors, reviewers, editors, and readers who interact with this journal site.

What We Collect

We collect and process the following personal data in connection with journal operations:

  • Authors: name, email address, institutional affiliation, ORCID identifier, country, and payment details where applicable
  • Reviewers: name, email address, institutional affiliation, areas of expertise, and payment details for reviewer honoraria
  • Registered users: name, email address, and usage data (login timestamps, IP addresses)

How We Use Your Data

Personal data is used for the following purposes:

  • Administering the submission, peer review, editorial, and publication process
  • Communicating with authors about their submissions (status updates, editorial decisions, proofs)
  • Matching manuscripts with suitable peer reviewers
  • Processing submission fees, refunds, and reviewer payments
  • Generating published article metadata (author names and affiliations appear on published works)
  • Complying with legal, regulatory, and contractual obligations
  • Detecting fraud, plagiarism, and research misconduct

AI-Assisted Processing

Westminster Academic Press uses AI-assisted tools in editorial triage, reviewer support, integrity checks, revision assessment, and production. Manuscript content and metadata may be processed by third-party AI services (including services located outside the UK and EU) for these purposes. By submitting a manuscript, authors consent to this processing as described in the Submission Agreement.

Third-Party Disclosure

We do not sell personal data. We may share data with:

  • Peer reviewers (anonymised manuscript content only, under double-blind review)
  • Service providers who assist with hosting, payment processing, email delivery, DOI registration, and AI-assisted editorial tools
  • Indexing and abstracting services, as part of published article metadata
  • Law enforcement or regulatory authorities where required by law

Data Retention

Submission records, including author information and manuscript metadata, are retained for the lifetime of the journal for editorial integrity, audit, and compliance purposes. Published article metadata is retained permanently as part of the scholarly record. Authors may request deletion of personal data following rejection or withdrawal, subject to the Publisher’s obligations to retain data for legal compliance, dispute resolution, and fraud prevention.

Your Rights

Under applicable data protection legislation (including the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018), you have the right to access, rectify, or request erasure of your personal data, subject to legal exceptions. To exercise these rights, contact us at privacy@westminsteracademic.press.

Further Information

For full details, see the Westminster Academic Press Privacy Policy.